Television has done flipping no favours. The programmes show a purchase, a montage of painting, and a triumphant sale. What they never show is the cost stack — the eight or nine lines of spending between buying and selling that quietly eat the margin. Flippers who make money know the stack by heart before they offer. This guide gives it to you.
You buy a property below market value, refurbish it, and sell it at its full market price. Your profit is what remains of the uplift after every cost is paid. Unlike BTL or BRRR, you exit completely: no tenants, no mortgage to service long term, cash out and on to the next one. The skill is not the refurbishment — it is buying at the right price in the first place, because the profit is made on the purchase, not the sale.
Jargon check — GDV and comps. GDV (Gross Development Value) is what the property will be worth once the works are finished. It is not a guess: it comes from comps — comparable sold prices of similar, done-up properties nearby, ideally within a quarter mile and the last twelve months. A flip appraisal built on optimistic GDV is the most common way flippers lose money.
Illustrative figures, not a live deal. Notice how £60,000 of gross uplift becomes £20,500 of profit once the stack is paid — and that is a deal that works. Beginners appraise with three cost lines and wonder where the money went. Every flip pack we send includes the full stack: refurb estimate, GDV comps, SDLT, holding costs and a net profit projection.
Lump-sum returns. A successful flip returns your capital plus profit in months, not years — capital you can compound into the next project.
No landlord obligations. No tenants, no voids, no 2am boiler calls. You are in, improved, and out.
Skills that transfer. Reading comps, pricing refurbs, and managing trades are the core skills of every property strategy. Flipping teaches them fast.
The honest risks. Refurbishments overrun — in cost and in time, and every extra month of holding costs comes straight off your profit. The market can move against you between purchase and sale; a flat market turns a thin flip into a break-even, and a falling one into a loss. Capital gains or income tax applies to your profit depending on how you trade — take proper tax advice, because it changes the real return materially. And an unsold flip is a very expensive thing to own. Do your own due diligence on every deal and build your appraisal on evidenced comps, never on hope.
Investors who want active, project-based returns rather than passive income, have the cash buffer to absorb an overrun, and can either manage trades or pay a project manager. If you would rather keep the improved property and pull your money out by refinancing instead of selling, that is BRRR — read that guide next.
A flip only enters our pipeline when the margin survives the full stack. We require a genuine discount at purchase evidenced by sold comparables, a refurb scope priced realistically with contingency, and a GDV supported by at least three comps within a quarter mile. The pack shows you the complete appraisal — so the first time you see the deal, you are already looking at the honest number, not the television version.
Free to join · Deals matched to your criteria · Fee only on exchange
Join the Buyers List